There For Me
by Joe's girl
Summary: The start of Tony's relationship with Jen. You may wish it never happened but it did. One chapter only. Please read and review.


_This is a one shot story inspired by the S4 episode in which Jen calls Tony at CTU. He tells Michelle that Jen was "there for me". It got me to thinking how their relationship might have started. I am such a T/M fan that the whole story makes me sad but I decided to write it anyway. Hope you'll read it and let me know how you feel about it._

_As usual, I don't own any of the characters; however the thought of "owning" Tony gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling! Please read if you have a few minutes. Sorry this is so short. I've got a couple of ideas for longer stories, but I'm still working out the details. In the meantime I thought I'd post this. If you read, I'm begging you to review. It just takes a second and I live for reviews (okay, I'll admit it, my life is truly pathetic). So happy reading!_

**THERE FOR ME**

Tony couldn't believe he was here. Nor could he believe that he was doing this. He climbed somewhat carelessly on top of her and unceremoniously pushed her legs apart with his knees. It wasn't his personality to pick up a girl in a bar and go home with her. He wasn't even sure of her name. It was Jen or Jan or something like that. The bar had been noisy and he had trouble hearing her. Her name didn't matter. He wanted sex. No, he needed sex. It had been ages since he touched Michelle. Months ago when she started giving him a hard time about drinking she made a rule that if she could smell alcohol on him, she would refuse to have sex with him. Since he smelled of alcohol most of his waking moments, she had plenty of excuses to avoid having sex with him.

Now everything had fallen apart. A few days ago, Michelle had told him she was leaving. She said she loved him but couldn't take any more. He was constantly drunk and refused to look for a job. She had had it. And that was it. He saved her life and gave up his freedom for her and now she was leaving. The ungrateful bitch didn't even seem upset when she walked out the door. She told him that her lawyer would be in touch with him. He couldn't believe it. He never saw it coming. They were a team and their love was perfect. There was no other woman in the world that he ever wanted to be with. His life revolved around Michelle. They had so many plans. He wanted her to have his children. Oh God! How could this be happening?

The next days were a blur. He sat in the kitchen and cried and drank and passed out and then started all over again until he was out of beer and wine and whatever other alcohol he had in the house. The kitchen sink was full of used glasses and the trash overflowed with empty bottles. What didn't fit in the trash now sat on the table and counters and a few had fallen on the floor. Tony cut his hand on an empty bottle that had broken when it fell to the floor. He sat watching the blood flow from the cut without trying to stop it. He watched it and he cried. He hoped that he bled to death but even in his drunken stupor he knew that it wasn't possible to bleed to death from such a minor wound.

Without really remembering the sequence of events, Tony dragged himself to bed at some point and slept for a long time. The next time he woke up it was dark and he had the hangover from hell. He ransacked the house looking for more alcohol but could find none. He was going to have to go out and get more. He grabbed a jacket and car keys and was about to go out when he caught sight of himself in a mirror. He looked awful. Dried blood from the cut on his hand was on his face and in his hair. His clothes were filthy and he needed a shave. Despite his need to feed his habit, some underlying pride oozed to the surface and he cleaned himself up before going out. Soon he was showered and shaved and dressed in clean clothes that Michelle had washed and ironed and hung so neatly in his closet. And off he went to a bar where he had begun to hang out on a regular basis called _The Speakeasy_. He supposed the name was to be reminiscent of a 1920's prohibition era type club, but the effect was lost the moment you walked into the place. About all the bar had in common with a real "speakeasy" of 100 years earlier was that it was dark, smoky and out of the way. It otherwise had none of the high class, society clientele associated with it namesakes.

_The Speakeasy _was a neighborhood watering hole. It wasn't the nice downtown LA bar he would have gone to after work when he was at CTU. You know the kind of place; everybody dressed in business clothes and chatting. The men drank specialty beers and the women drank wine and Cosmopolitans and sour apple Martinis. No one here had a suit on and no one knew what a "specialty beer" was. Wine was nonexistent unless it came from a gallon jug with a screw top and Cosmopolitans and sour apple Martinis were sissy drinks even to women.

Tony entered the place and started toward the tall stools that surrounded the drink stained hard wood bar. He usually sat at the bar and chatted with the other guys. Occasionally a girl came on to him, but he never really noticed. Michelle had always been at home waiting for him and despite the hard times they were having, he still loved her and never considered being unfaithful to her.

Tonight was different. Tony didn't feel like sitting near the smiling, happy throng at the bar. He didn't want to take part in their mindless banter about how the Dodgers were going to do this season. He glanced around and saw a secluded table for two near the back and made his way toward it. He sat down and immediately scanned the area for a waitress. He needed a drink to make his headache go away. She was two tables over and he caught her attention by waving at her. She smiled back and nodded as if to say she would be there as soon as she finished taking these drink orders. He had seen her before and had talked to her near the bar on a couple of occasions. Tony looked her over without really realizing that he was doing it. It was an occupational habit left over from his CTU days.

The girl was attractive. She wasn't drop dead gorgeous like Michelle, but she was attractive. He wasn't quite sure of her age but he guessed mid-twenties and wondered if she was actually younger than she looked. She had a bit of a hard look about her as if she had been on her own from a young age and had learned about life the hard way. He noted that she wore too much make up and her jeans were way too tight. Tony wondered if she ever hustled more than just drinks. Actually, he thought, reconsidering his initial assessment, the tight jeans nicely accentuated her ass. She had a nice ass. It was round and full; more so than Michelle's or Nina's had been.

Nina. Now there was someone he hadn't thought about in a while. She was dead of course. Jack had killed her; murdered her really. She was no threat to him. She was flat on her back on the floor when he pulled the trigger. Tony certainly didn't care. He would have happily killed her had he been given the chance. Yes, Nina was just another in the line of woman who had screwed Tony over. It started with his first girlfriend in high school who tossed him overboard for the captain of the football team. Part of him wasn't surprised that Nina screwed him, although admittedly he was surprised to find out she was a double agent. He always thought that she was just using him to make Jack jealous and once she was done playing that game that she would dump him. Michelle, on the other hand, he thought was the real deal. He thought she loved him and would stick by him forever. What they had was so beautiful. He saved her life for chrissakes! Now she screwed him like all the rest.

Tony was deep in thought when the waitress reached his table. "Hi," she said as she set a cocktail napkin in front of him. "What can I get you?"

"A double scotch and a shot of Absolut," he told her.

"Did you want anything to eat?" she asked.

"No, just bring the drinks."

"You plan on getting drunk fast don't you?"

"Maybe I do. It's none of your business. Maybe I have a lot I need to forget right now."

The waitress looked like she wanted to say something else but thought better of it. "Okay, then," she sighed. "I'll be right back with those drinks."

Tony sat waiting for his drinks thinking about what the waitress had said. How dare she give him a hard time about his order? Who the hell was she to question him or his motives? He was paying for service not for smart assed comments. If he wanted to get drunk it was none of her business. This was a bar and she was here to serve him whatever alcohol he ordered.

She was back in a few minutes with his drinks. "Here you go. A double scotch and a shot of Absolut," she said as she took them from her tray and set them on the table before him.

"Thanks," Tony said without looking up.

"You usually sit at the bar. Are you meeting someone tonight?" the waitress asked with interest.

"Not that it's any of your business, but I just wanted to be left alone tonight. I don't want to talk baseball or politics or weather. I just want to be alone. Okay?"

"Sure," she said with some finality. "I'll just check back in a little while to see if you need anything else."

Tony sat staring down at the table and taking long sips from the scotch. He was saving the Absolut until he finished the scotch. He knew from experience that he would get drunker faster if he chased the scotch with it. He glanced up occasionally and noticed the waitress looking at him. Each time he caught her she averted her eyes.

She watched him finish the scotch and throw back the Absolut. She waited several minutes before returning to his table. "Can I get you anything else?" she asked. She expected him to be too wasted to form a coherent thought but to her surprise he seemed largely unphased by the amount of alcohol he had just consumed.

"Yeah, bring me another round and just keep them coming until I say 'stop' or I pass out, which ever comes first," he told her coldly without making eye contact.

"Got it," she answered.

Several minutes passed and the waitress hadn't returned. That was odd. Waitresses lived on tips and tips were generally doled out based on quick friendly service. Service here was usually good but this chick was worthless, Tony decided. He had seen her take drink orders from two other tables and deliver their drinks since he had ordered his second round.

Tony finally saw the waitress approaching his table. "About time," he said impatiently. "I thought you forgot."

She set a single scotch in front of him along with a beer.

"I ordered a double scotch and a shot of Absolut."

"And I thought a single scotch and a beer was about all you could handle. I don't need you passing out at my table or getting so drunk that I have to get a cab to take you home. That's not good for business and my boss gets pissed when it happens. So if you're just looking to get yourself shit-faced drunk, do me a favor, and buy a bottle and take it home. I don't know what your problems are, Buddy, but everybody in here has problems and drowning yourself in alcohol isn't going to help. What happened? You lose your job? Your girl dump you? Join the crowd. This place is full of losers and they might have a few drinks to try and forget, but they're not trying to kill themselves. With you I'm not so sure."

Tony was stunned by her speech. He grabbed the scotch glass from the table and drained it in two swallows. The girl continued to stare at him. He finally looked up at her. "What do you want?"

"Like I said, I don't know what your problems are, but you look like a nice guy to me. I have guys slobbering over me and crying on my shoulder all the time that aren't worth the time of day. I think you're different. You look like you have some class. I thought maybe I'd like to get to know you better," she shrugged, "but maybe I was wrong. I'll get you another scotch," with that she walked away.

Tony watched her go while he sipped on the beer. Maybe he had been a little hard on her. Maybe he had been a little hard on everybody recently. Even Michelle. Mostly Michelle. But she deserved it. Look how she treated him. Constantly nagging him about his drinking and bugging him to get a job. She even had his parents on her side. His whole family sided with her. Where the hell were they when he needed them? And then Michelle just up and leaves. _Maybe if I hadn't been so hard on her_, he thought. _Maybe she'd still be there for me._

The waitress returned with another scotch. "How's the beer?" she asked.

"It's pretty good," he told her.

"I thought you'd like it. It's a strawberry blond lager. Most of the guys in here just want whatever is cheapest. They can't tell the difference. I thought you might be a better judge of beers."

"Thanks," he said with a vague smile. "It's good."

She smiled back at him. "By the way, my name's Jen."

Tony held out his hand to shake hers. "Tony. Nice to meet you," he told her.

"Nice to meet you, Tony," she said in return. "Look, I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I was out of line."

"Forget it," Tony told her. "You have your opinion and I have mine."

Jen smiled sweetly at him, "I've got to go. I've got other customers waiting for me."

Tony drank this scotch slowly. Jen watched him and waited for him to finish the beer. Once he did, she waited a few minutes before returning to his table with another. She was trying to slow him down. She didn't get off until 2 o'clock and she was hoping to keep him around until then. People would start leaving around 12:30 or 1 o'clock and then she would have some time to talk to him.

The evening wore on and Jen made sure she paid plenty of attention to Tony. She wasn't sure what attracted her to him. He was handsome, of course. That was a start, but it was more than that. There was something different about his guy. The way he spoke and the way he dressed (even though he was just wearing jeans and a tee shirt) seemed so refined, made her think he was educated. What was he doing in a dump like this? She noticed that he wasn't wearing a wedding ring, but she thought she had seen him wearing one in the past. A tan line on his left third finger confirmed her suspicions. She assumed that was why he was here drowning his sorrows. It looks like Mrs. Tony has left and he definitely needed someone to cheer him up. Jen smiled. Cheering this handsome man up was right up her alley.

Tony sat drinking the beer Jen was supplying regularly. He didn't realize that she was timing him and bringing the beer on a schedule that she had decided on. It was enough to give him a nice buzz but not enough for him to be really drunk. She eventually brought him a cheeseburger and chips. The burger wasn't all that good, but it was some food in his stomach and he really couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten.

As the crowd thinned out, Jen spent more and more time near Tony's table. She cleaned nearby tables as she talked to him. She was picking up one of his empty glasses when she touched his ring finger. "Did she walk out on you?"

Tony looked at the telltale ring tan around the finger and smiled ruefully. "Yeah, a couple of days ago. Now I get to wait for her lawyer to send me the divorce papers."

"You aren't going to try separating for a while?" Jen asked trying to sound empathetic.

"We've been separated for a while now only we've been living in the same house and sleeping in the same bed. Believe me, there's no point in prolonging the agony. Better to just get the divorce and move on."

"You sound bitter."

"I should be. I saved her life and went to prison for it and now she doesn't want me around any more. I think I deserve to be bitter," Tony said. He tried to disguise it, but Jen could hear the anger smoldering in his voice.

"Bitterness doesn't get you anywhere, Tony. I have a lot I could be bitter about but it's not worth wasting my time on it." She shrugged. "It time for last call, do you want another one for the road?"

Tony shook his head. "No, I think I've had enough." He sat in silence while Jen cleaned up her tables and swept the floor beneath them. When she was almost finished, he pulled out his wallet, threw some bills on the table to cover the tab plus a generous tip and stood up. "Good night," he said softly. "Do you work again tomorrow night?"

"Yeah, unless something better comes along between now and then," she answered with a soft smile. "I've got the early shift, noon to nine. Maybe I'll see you then."

"Maybe."

Tony left and Jen finished her work and exited the bar. The bus stop was about two blocks away. She buttoned her jacket and steeled herself for the walk. It wasn't a good neighborhood but other than some kids selling pot, nobody usually bothered her. She wore a "don't give me any shit" kind of look that scared most people off. Tony had just started his car and was driving slowly over the pothole covered parking lot when he saw her walking away from the building.

"Hey," Tony called from his car, "how're you getting home?"

"I'll catch the bus," Jen told him.

"This isn't a very safe neighborhood for you to be walking in."

Jen shrugged, "I don't have much of a choice. I don't have a car and it's too expensive to take a cab, so I either ride the bus or hoof it."

Tony unlocked the passenger side door. "Get in. I'll drive you home."

Jen smiled and climbed into the car. "Thanks. Take a left out of the lot and a right at the second light," she directed him.

Tony followed her directions and pulled onto the deserted street. "Do you live far?"

"Just a couple of miles. I really appreciate this. I hate waiting for the bus," she told him. She glanced up at the road as Tony approached a stop sign. "Whoa! Whoa! There's a stop there!" she cried as he cruised through it narrowly missing an oncoming car.

"Where? I didn't see it."

"You just went though it. I thought you were sober enough to drive. Pull over. I'm driving before you get us killed."

Tony obediently pulled over to the curb and switched places with Jen. "I'm sorry," he told her a little shaken. "I thought I was okay to drive."

"It alright," she said, her heart returning to its normal rate. "You probably shouldn't try and drive home. I'm guessing that you don't live around here. If you want to crash at my place tonight you can. My roommate is gone for the weekend. You can have her room or the couch."

Tony didn't argue. It was nice to have someone so concerned about his well being. Michelle just did things like take his keys and refuse to return them. She coddled him for awhile, but then some psychologist at CTU told her that she was "enabling him" and that she should stop. Well she stopped alright. She claimed that she still loved him, but Tony couldn't believe that. How could she treat him that way? How could she leave him if she still loved him? Here was someone who barely knew him and yet obviously cared more for him than Michelle did. This waitress, Jen or Jan or was it Jane? He wasn't sure. But he was sure that she cared for him. Why else would she be so nice to him?

They arrived at a small bungalow on a shabby street. Jen parked along the curb and handed Tony the keys. "It's not much, but it's home."

Jen dug her keys out of her bag and opened the front door of the house. Tony said nothing as he followed her in the door. The inside was much like the outside: shabby but surprisingly clean. There were a few pieces of furniture that looked like they had probably all come from second-hand stores, but it was carefully arranged as if Jen and her roommate really cared about how the place looked. Tony immediately noticed that the house had an air of sterility to it or that it somehow lacked permanence for its occupants. There were no pictures on the walls or framed snapshots sitting on the tables, no knick-knacks around to personalize the place. Tony thought of the home he shared with Michelle. It was full of those things. Things they had collected on their trips together, gifts they had exchanged, pictures that they had framed as memories of their special life together. Jen and her roommate existed here but they didn't really "live" here.

"I'm beat!" Jen said as she dropped her bag and keys on the kitchen counter. "Make yourself at home. There's food and beer in the fridge if you want anything. The remote for the TV is on the table. I'm going to go take a shower. It's the first thing I do when I get home from the bar otherwise I smell like smoke and beer."

Tony nodded his thanks and watched Jen walk into her bedroom. Moments later he watched as she went from the bedroom to the bathroom wrapped in a towel. Jen had a good body with long shapely legs and watching her made him tingle with desire. He listened as the shower water ran and imagined her running her soapy hands over her wet skin. It was a thought he couldn't ignore. He adjusted the crotch of his jeans to allow some room for his growing erection. Other than ones he woken up with, this was the first erection that he'd had in a long time. As attractive as he found Michelle, her attitude over the last few months left him with no real desire to touch her. Their battle-weary relationship was no longer a sexual one. Tony sat on the sofa enjoying the feeling of the blood coursing to his genitals and began fantasizing about the woman in the shower just yards away from him.

Jen came out of the bathroom about 20 minutes later looking particularly lovely to Tony. Her make up had been stripped off and her dark hair was wet and hanging about her shoulders. She looked fresh and young. She was wearing a short terry bathrobe that wrapped around her and was cinched at her waist with a belt.

"God! I feel human again," Jen exclaimed. "I'll get you a pillow and some blankets and you can sleep here on the couch. It's actually pretty comfortable," she said as she walked toward a closet and retrieved a blanket and pillow. "I've fallen asleep there more than one night when I was too wasted to make it to bed." Jen handed the items to Tony. "Sleep well," she told him as she started toward her bedroom.

Tony smiled at her. He reached out and grasped her fingers lightly in his. "Thanks," he whispered. Instead of letting go of her hand he continued to hold it.

Jen responded by squeezing his hand in return. Tony tugged lightly at her hand and she moved easily toward him. She turned to face him and their eyes locked. Jen lowered herself onto his lap. Tony put his hands on her face and directed her mouth to meet his. He kissed her softly at first but within seconds the kisses became frantic and hard. He was mashing her lips with his and groaning loudly. Jen started tugging at his shirt and helped him take it over his head. She ran her hands over his chest and played with his nipples. Tony's moved his mouth down Jen's neck kissing and sucking and not caring what kind of marks he left. He would have never done that to Michelle but Jen wasn't objecting so he continued. Jen reached down between their bodies and opened the tie belt on her robe. She brazenly pushed the robe open to reveal her body to Tony. Her move had the desired effect and Tony grabbed her shoulders and pushed her roughly to the couch. He virtually fell on top of her and attacked one breast with his mouth and the other with his hand. Now it was Jen's turn to groan. Tony wasted no time; he wasn't in the mood for foreplay. He ran his hand down her body and pushed it inside of her panties. Jen eagerly opened her legs and Tony could feel that she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

Tony pulled himself off of the couch and pulled Jen up with him. They stood kissing for a moment before Tony slipped his hands under her thighs and lifted her up. Jen put her arms and legs around him and allowed him to carry her to the bedroom. He set her on the bed and stood up to remove his pants. Jen was sitting on the edge of the bed now and she pulled down his boxer shorts to release his rock hard penis. He thought she was going to take him in her mouth and the thought almost made him come without ever being touched. Instead, she opened the drawer of her nightstand.

"What are you doing?" Tony panted disappointed that she hadn't done what he had hoped.

"We need a rubber," she told him as she pulled a box from the drawer. "The last thing I need right now is a kid." Jen took a condom from its wrapper and put it on Tony. The sensation made him moan. She put her arms around his waist and pulled him down to the bed.

Tony groaned as he pushed his condom-sheathed penis inside of her and began moving in and out. She groaned as well. She must have been enjoying it, not that he really cared. He was certainly enjoying it and that was all that mattered at the moment. He was happy that she remembered the condom because he was way too wasted and way too excited to think of it. He wasn't all that concerned with a pregnancy or disease; it was more that he didn't want to feel her without a condom. He only wanted to feel Michelle that way; it was only Michelle that he wanted to know so intimately.

"Aah Tony!" she screamed as she wrapped her legs around his back. "Fuck me! Fuck me!" Her hips were moving against his creating an unbelievable friction. "More! Faster! Oh, fuck me harder!"

Her crassness contrasted sharply with Michelle's gentility. When he and Michelle made love, Michelle moaned his name quietly and directed his actions gently. She whispered her love to him and told him how good he made her feel. This girl was different. That was good. Tony didn't need anyone to remind him of Michelle. He decided that different was definitely good. He picked up the pace and intensity to comply with her desires. He was excited and very hard, but wasn't anywhere near a climax.

The woman beneath him – he wished he could remember her name – continued to scream. Tony felt her body tense up. "Deeper!" she cried "I want you in deeper!" She tightened her legs around his back to force him in further, as if that were possible. Then she came in intense waves. Her muscles tightened and loosened in one spastic wave after another until she lay still beneath him moaning softly, mewing almost like a kitten.

Tony was startled by the sudden change. She was now mild and feminine, so much more like Michelle. He found himself more excited now, closer to a climax. He imagined Michelle beneath him; he could do that now that the girl was quiet. He continued to pound her and finally came in a long, much needed orgasm. He felt semen spurt from the end of his penis two, three, four times only to be caught by the condom. His breathing was shallow and fast. He collapsed onto Jen burying his face in the pillow along side of her neck. He never would have done that with Michelle. With Michelle he would have used his last bit on strength to hold himself up and gaze into her eyes and then they would have kissed passionately until he became limp and slipped from inside of her. Then he would have rolled off of her and held her tenderly in his arms.

"That was great! Your wife must be crazy to leave you. I hope she doesn't think she's going to find anybody else as good as you," Jen told him.

Tony stared into the darkness not saying anything. He hadn't been great. He hadn't even been all that good. Great was when he and Michelle spent tender hours in foreplay and making love. Great was when they started in the living room then moved to the shower and finally ended up in bed. This was just sex, a screw, a fuck. Nothing more.

Tony was tired and so was Jen. They both fell off to sleep and woke late the next morning. Jen woke with a start and realized suddenly that she had to be at work at noon. She got up and rushed around the house to get dressed.

"I'll get off of work around 9:00. Maybe you could stop by," she suggested as she stepped into a pair of tight, low-rise jeans. She didn't seem to be embarrassed at all by the fact that she was standing half naked in front of a man she had only met less than 24 hours earlier. "You can stay here as long as you want. Just lock the door behind you when you leave."

"No, it's my fault that you're late for work. I'll drop you off at the bar on my way home," Tony offered as he stood up to get dressed. His head was pounding. Maybe he would get a beer when he dropped Jen off for work or maybe he should just head home and sleep it off.

"You're a sweetheart," Jen told him as she kissed his cheek. "Most of the guys I know would have rolled over and gone back to sleep while I caught the bus."

Tony dropped Jen off at _The Speakeasy_ and made his way home. He stepped inside of the house and closed the door behind him and was immediately struck by how Michelle seemed to be everywhere in the house. He looked up at the mantle and saw the Navajo pottery that they bought when they vacationed in Arizona and the vase they bought on their honeymoon. There was a picture taken at Vale in front of the ski lodge and the little figurine Tony had given Michelle for their anniversary. He was assaulted by the memories of once happy days; memories of the only woman Tony believed he would ever really love. He suddenly felt dirty and cheap; like he had just cheated on his wife. _She left you_, he told himself, but it was little consolation. Tony's head pounded harder and he felt as if the room was closing in on him. He moved slowly up the stairs and into the bedroom. Unable to stand the filth he felt covered with, he stripped off his clothes and got into the shower. The hot water just made his head pound more, but he didn't even care. He had to wash _her_ off his skin. He scrubbed and scrubbed but he didn't feel clean. As he washed below his waist, he looked with disdain and anger on his penis as if last night were solely its fault; as if it wasn't connected to the rest of his body.

Despite his scrubbing he never felt clean. He dried off and walked dispiritedly into the bedroom. He fell on the bed – Michelle's side of the bed – and buried his face in her pillow. It smelled of her, of her sweetness; that unique scent that oozed from her pores. Tony couldn't control his tears. He wept uncontrollably whispering "I'm sorry, Baby. I love you so much," over and over and over again. _Where are you? _he wondered. _I wish you were here. I need you to be there for me. _

Tony finally fell into a deep, dreamless sleep. By the time he woke again it was early evening. His hangover was gone and his stomach gnawed with hunger. He dressed in clean clothes from his neat closet, once again, courtesy of Michelle; just another reminder that she was gone. The house was making him feel very claustrophobic. He went out on the patio to get some air but realized that it didn't help. He needed to get away from the house. He wasn't sure where, just away.

Less than an hour later, after doing some meandering through different parts of the city, Tony pulled up in front of _The Speakeasy._ He timed it right. Jen would be getting off in just about a half hour. He walked into the dark bar and scanned the establishment for Jen. She caught his eye and smiled. Tony sat at the bar and ordered a cheeseburger and a beer while he waited for Jen's shift to end.

"Hey," she said to him. She gave the bartender a drink order and waited for him to fill it. "I'm surprised to see you."

"Why?" he asked.

"I didn't think a nice guy like you would come back. I figured you had your fun last night and that would be it. You're under no obligation, you know," she told him.

"I know that. I wanted to see you. I thought we could catch a movie or something when you get off."

"Or we could go back to my place and screw again," she said with a mischievous smile. "You don't have to mince words, Tony. I had as much fun last night as you did." She took four beer mugs from the bartender and hoisted them onto a tray. "I'll be through in about a fifteen minutes. I'll see you then."

Tony smiled and took a long drink from his beer. He liked her. She wasn't Michelle, but no one would ever be Michelle so he might as well just give up on that. His one shot with Michelle was over. He blew it and would never get that chance again. He needed to start over. This girl was different from any girl he had ever dated and she made him smile. He hadn't smiled much in a long time. It felt good to smile and it felt good to once again have someone who was there for him.

**THE END**

A/N: Please, please, PLEASE review! Thanks!


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